Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher are tied at the top list for total world championships with seven. Hamilton will hope to win his eighth at Ferrari, the team where Schumacher enjoyed a historic run of dominance.
The fairytale script sees the Briton achieve what no driver ever has before having fulfilled a boyhood dream. Hamilton will feel he was unfairly denied an eighth title in 2021, and his move to Ferrari may represent his last realistic shot at putting that right.
Schumacher won the first of his championships in 1994 and 1995 with Benetton before joining Ferrari for ’96. After losing out to Damon Hill and Mika Hakkinen, he triumphed in 2000.
That kick-started a run of five straight, a feat unmatched either before or since. Hamilton eclipsed Schumacher by winning six titles at Mercedes, but Nico Rosberg interrupted his run in 2016.
Schumacher bagged 72 of his 91 career wins with the Prancing Horse. Remarkably, Niki Lauda is second on that leaderboard with just 15, and Sebastian Vettel is one behind.
Vettel had built a dynasty at Red Bull before he left to pursue his Ferrari ambitions in 2015. While there were plenty of memorable victories, he never achieved his ultimate goal – a cautionary tale for Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton is learning Italian before Ferrari move, like Michael Schumacher
Given that Schumacher is synonymous with Ferrari, it’s no surprise that Hamilton is already trying to emulate him. According to Autosprint, he’s begun learning Italian before he makes his move.
Schumacher did the same when he joined Ferrari nearly 30 years ago. Hamilton has spent his entire F1 career so far in British teams, but will now be adapting to a new environment at Maranello.
The feeling is that he’ll be able to establish a ‘deeper bond’ with his mechanics and engineers if he learns certain expressions. Naturally, it will take time, but anything he can do at this early stage will make the transition smoother.
Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc is fluent in Italian, having been part of the Ferrari academy since 2016. He will work with Ricardo Adami, previously the engineer for Vettel and Carlos Sainz.
Lando Norris mocks Lewis Hamilton after reading Toto Wolff comments
It increasingly feels as if Hamilton is counting the races before his fresh start. He won twice in three weekends before the summer break, including an unforgettable victory at Silverstone, but he’s endured a gruelling run since.
He started outside the top 10 in both the Netherlands and Azerbaijan and only walked away with six points combined. After a step forward in qualifying for last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix (third), he fell back to sixth in a miserable race.
Mercedes opted to start him on the soft tyres, a gamble that backfired rather predictably as the rest of the frontrunners went for the medium. Even teammate George Russell knew Hamilton wouldn’t be ‘happy’.
After the race, both drivers suffered heatstroke symptoms and couldn’t carry out their media duties. Lando Norris mocked Hamilton and Russell, insisting every driver struggled in the notoriously brutal Marina Bay conditions.
